Inside IMA

Preparing students for the real world

Addressing the longstanding talent gap in management accounting and finance, IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) is taking a bold leap forward in education reform with publication of its first textbook, Management Accounting - An Integrative Approach released in spring 2017.

Co-authored by C.J. McNair-Connolly, Ph.D., and Kenneth A. Merchant, Ph.D., the book aligns with IMA’s mission of better preparing the accounting student of today to become the strategic business partner of tomorrow. Providing an integrative framework of all major management accounting concepts, the book represents a shift in management accounting education. Moving away from a random combination of tools and techniques, it instead focuses on a decision-oriented framework that incorporates the best of modern control literature.

Offering three Excel databases that present students with real-world settings to consider, the book emphasizes the decision-making process that is illustrative of on-the-job training. Management Accounting also includes activities to help students understand how managers use information, whether for planning, decision-making, or control.

Students will improve critical thinking skills as they learn a new approach to management accounting. The textbook centers around the behavioral and strategic side of management accounting – an often overlooked area in other finance literature – which encourages students to go beyond the analysis and calculation of quantitative data.

Academics can prepare students for the real world with this new textbook. To learn more about adopting Management Accounting – An Integrative Approach in your classroom, please visit: www.imanet.org/matextbook or email us at imabooks@imanet.org.